Casey Kasem’s Widow Reveals ‘Scooby-Doo’ Behind-the-Scenes Secrets (Exclusive)
Jean Kasem, who is best known for portraying Loretta Tortelli on the hit TV show Cheers and its spin-off The Tortellis, is also the widow of the legendary Casey Kasem, who voiced Shaggy on Scooby Doo for a combined total of more than 35 years. Jean was on hand at the opening of the Hollywood Museum’s exhibit, ICONIC RIDES: A Drive Through Time, and shared memories about her late husband Casey’s journey as the voice of Shaggy, as well as a few lesser-known facts and behind-the-scenes stories about the show.
Credit: Mike Pingel
Who really created Scooby-Doo?
“Everybody thinks that Joe Barbera & William Hanna created Scooby-Doo. That’s a misnomer. They did not, it was Joe Ruby and Ken Spears. Ruby/Spears worked at Hanna-Barbera [the show’s original production company], and both were all tight friends,” Kasem said.
Fun Fact: The first-ever Scooby-Doo series, Scooby-Doo Where Are You?, first aired on September 13, 1969, and had three seasons and 41 episodes over the course of nine years. There have been numerous series spin-offs, including Scooby’s All-Star Laff-A-Lympics and The Scooby-Doo Show.
The show almost had a far less memorable title
“Scooby-Doo was not the original name,” says Kasem. “It was something else, but it was so unmemorable I can even remember. It had less characters and it just didn’t have that jump.”
Fun Fact: According to Scoobypedia, the originall considered titles were Mysteries Five, and later Who’s S-S-Scared?
Credit: Mike Pingel
Scooby-Doo almost didn’t happen …
“Joe Barbera & William Hanna shopped Scooby-Doo all over town. They were told, ‘We appreciate you coming in, but don’t you have anything better? I mean, come on, … who the frick is going to believe that there is a dog who’s a detective and teenagers are going to run around?’ Joe and Willam went to the next place, and the next place. So, they gave up and went back to their studio.
“There, the phone rang, and the secretary came running in and said, ‘It’s CBS – get on the phone.” They answered the phone, [CBS] said ‘Look, we need something that doesn’t have violence in content in cartoons, we need something wholesome for the kids. We need something that the parents can watch with the kids, too.’ Joe said ‘Well, you know, I’ll be right over, I think we have something,’ and the rest was history.”
Fun Fact: Netflix recently announced that they will be making a new live action Scooby Doo series, focusing on the origin of the Mystery Inc. gang.
How Casey Kasem started voicing Shaggy …
“My husband [Casey Kasem] did Shaggy from the beginning. [To get the role], Casey came up with a couple of voices and let Joe Barbera and William Hanna hear them, and they went ‘Nay, not quite. We don’t see the character that way.’ Casey said, ‘Give me a second.’ He walked out into the hallway, called on all of his actor tools and decided, I’m just going to do a little bit of Bob Denver, who was playing Maynard G Krebs in Dobie Gillis, and mix it up with Dick Creena, who was a fabulous actor from The Real McCoys. He melted them together. Hanna-Barbera stood up and they said, ‘That’s it. You got it. You’re Shaggy.’”
Robert Mora/Getty Images
Why Casey left Scooby-Doo …
“Casey did the show probably in the late ’90s and there was a little disagreement with the director, because Casey was an activist, and he was a vegetarian, and he was a non-smoker and he said, ‘You know, I don’t like the I don’t like Shaggy eating these big meat sandwiches.’ He goes, ‘Now it really makes me sick, because I’m Shaggy.’
“The director said, ‘You know, Casey, it’s a cartoon, we’re not making Shaggy eat meat sandwiches.’ Casey goes ‘Yeah, I know. But I don’t want the kids to eat like that. I don’t want them to get unhealthy.’ So, they said, ‘You know what, time out. Why don’t you go home and think about this?’ Casey said ‘Look, I’m not upsetting you, am I?’ Gordon Hunt was his name, and he goes ‘No, no we’ll call you.’ They replaced Casey with somebody for a couple of years. Casey has said ‘It’s just a moral thing with me. I just had to do it.’ They called a couple of years later and said, ‘We need Shaggy. Everybody’s writing, everybody’s phoning that they want Shaggy back.’”
Fun Fact: During Casey’s break from the series, Billy West (1998) and Scott Innes (1998-2009) voiced Shaggy.
Where is the Mystery Machine?
Credit: Mike Pingel
The Scooby-Doo Gang’s Mystery Machine from the live-action 2000 film is currently on display at the Hollywood Museum as part of the ICONIC RIDES: A Drive Through Time exhibit. It is sitting behind a glass case surrounded by posters, clothing items, and a TV running famous clips from the series.
The Mystery Machine has been Mystery Inc.’s mode of transportation since the beginning. Fred is the owner of the van, which is painted medium blue with a green strip running around it, accented by orange flowers and the name The Mystery Machine painted orange on both sides. The van resembles a mid-1960s Ford Taunus Transit.
Credit: Mike Pingel
If you want to check out ICONIC RIDES: A Drive Through Time, the Hollywood Museum is located at 1660 N. Highland Avenue, CA, 90028 (Hollywood Blvd. and N. Highland Ave.) and is open Wednesday-Sunday from 10am-5pm. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors (62+), $12 for students with ID and $5 for children under 5.
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April 2018
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